ST's new contactless memory IC expands the application range of electronic tickets

ST's new contactless memory IC expands the application range of electronic tickets

STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) has introduced a new 2-Kbit contactless ticket IC, the SRi2K. The new IC helps service providers efficiently manage access to a variety of services, paving the way for greater flexibility, ease of use, and operational efficiency in electronic ticketing.

“Smart ticketing systems bring tremendous value to a wide range of service providers and end users,” said Benoit Rodrigues, General Manager of STMicroelectronics’ RFID and EEPROM Division. “The SRi2K RFID chip represents a significant advancement in contactless memory card ICs, laying a solid foundation for future innovative services. Customers can choose from a wide range of ISO14443 ICs, covering 512-bit, 2-Kbit, and 4-Kbit densities.”

With STMicroelectronics' technical advantage as the largest supplier of rewritable EEPROM memory, SRi2K realizes the monolithic integration of 2-Kbit memory and RFID circuit. After expanding the data capacity, the chip can enhance the intelligence and application flexibility of electronic tickets, support different lifestyles, and make services such as transportation more efficient. Consumers only need an IC card (i.e. electronic ticket) containing SRi2K to take various means of transportation, such as buses, trains, trams, taxis or rent bicycles. Due to the increased flexibility and functionality, SRi2K can also be used for building access control, conference passes, vending machines and theme park tickets.

STMicroelectronics' existing RFID chips SRi512 and SRT512 have achieved great success and are widely used in contactless ticketing applications around the world. Currently, the single-trip ticket system of the Seoul Metro in South Korea is the largest application of this series of chips. The new product SRi2K has four times more data storage capacity than the previous two products.

SRi2K integrates a standard 13.56MHz carrier RFID circuit, complies with all current international standards for interfaces and data formats, including ISO 14443-2/3, and reads and writes built-in large-capacity memory in a contactless manner. SRi2K can also implement a security mechanism based on a unique 64-bit ID code and lock protection storage block on the chip.

In addition, the 8-bit anti-collision mechanism based on the on-chip ID allows a large number of contactless tickets to exist at the same time without interfering with each other. SRi2K has a very short memory access time and a data transmission rate of 106-Kbit/s, which makes the communication speed between the ticket and the card reader very fast, speeding up each card reading transaction. To maximize reliability, SRi2K integrates a unique two-way 32-bit down counter to prevent data loss or billing problems caused by sudden power failure during the card reading process.

The SRi2K has been certified by a testing agency to have a lifespan of 1 million erase/write cycles and a data retention period of 40 years. The new product will be mass produced in November 2009 and will be supplied in the form of bare die or unsingled wafers that can be directly embedded in smart tickets.